History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

159 HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
home with his mother in Marion township, where he has carried
on general agricultural pursuits continuously and successfully
since. He is engaged in mixed farming and the raising of horses,
cattle and hogs. The residence and some other buildings which
stand on the property were erected by his grandfather, an early
pioneer, who settled on this farm in 1850, and became an early
agriculturist and esteemed citizen of the community.
In politics Mr. McCarty is a stanch republican, and for two
years he ably discharged the duties devolving upon Mm in the
capacity of clerk of Marion township. Fraternally he is identified
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen
of America and the Royal Neighbors. A man of genuine per-
sonal worth and high standards of integrity, he commands the
sincere regard and esteem of all who come in contact with him and
in the course of his lifelong residence in Lee county has proved his
loyalty in citizenship, his reliability iu business and his fidelity
to all the ties and obligations of life.
HENRY KERSTEN.
Henry Kersten is one of the self-made men of Lee county.
He had no special assistance when he started out in life on his
own account, but in the course of years, through his well directed
efforts and careful management, he has hecome the owner of
four hundred acres of valuable land in Reynolds township. It
was iu this township that he was born, March 1, 1864, his parents
being George and Christina Kersten, both of whom were natives
of Germany. They came to America in the '50s and journeyed
across the country until they reached Lee county, Illinois, where
the father still makes his home, residing now in Ashton. The
mother passed away in the late '70s, after which George Kersten
married a second and third time, his third union being with Mrs.
Emma Brundenburg. By his first marriage there were eleven cMldren
and by the second marriage there were three children, of
whom two yet survive.
Henry Kersten spent the days of his boyhood and youth under
the parental roof and after attaining his majority started out in
the world on his own account. He then rented land for four
years, after which he purchased the farm upon which he now
resides, comprising one hundred and sixty acres on section 16,